Welfare Wifeys (21 page)

“I’m a nigga who respects a
lady
enough to be polite, but doesn’t mind disciplining a
bitch
when she gets beside herself. Which category do you fall into, ma?” The temperature dropped ten degrees when Animal posed the question. The girl looked like she was gonna say something fly, but Soda wisely intervened.

“A’ight, time to go.” Soda ushered the women toward the door, ignoring their complaints.

“Soda, this is some real crab shit. I’m gonna un-follow your ass on Twitter,” the light-skinned girl threatened.

“My heart bleeds. Beat it, bitches.” Soda slammed the door in their faces. “My fault, Animal.”

“No apologies needed among friends, Soda.” Animal gave him dap. “Now, go up in there and get ya murk on so we can wrap this session up.”

“Bet.” Soda strode into the booth confidently and slipped on the headphones.

“I swear I wanna slap that kid sometimes,” Chip confessed to Animal after he started the music in Soda’s headphones.

“Soda is a good dude. He just needs direction sometimes.” Animal expelled smoke from his nose. “Soda’s brah at times, but you could learn to lighten up too, Chip.”

“Me? I’m the most easygoing dude in the world!” Chip declared.

“Yeah, you my muthafucking dawg, but you can be very uptight when it comes to making music.”

Chip ran his hands through his wild hair. “Here we go with this. I want your little buddy to stop trying to make porn clips on the sofa and work like the rest of us and I’m uptight? If I’d been in here eating mushrooms instead of getting the music right you’d be the first one throwing a hissy fit, but I should go easy on him? This is a race thing, right?”

Animal laughed. “Chip, your ass is shot out.”

“Yeah and you’re greedy. Pass the weed, dude!”

Animal gave Chip the blunt and grabbed a towel from the couch to wipe away the sweat on his back and chest. His BlackBerry vibrated on the console with the word
unavailable
flashing across the screen. He didn’t recognize the number so he started not to pick it up, but something in the pit of his gut told him to answer the call. “Yeah?”

“Hold on, I got Brasco on the other line,” a female voice said.

Animal let out an aggravated sigh. If Brasco was calling him on a three-way then he had to be locked up somewhere for God only knew what. He had given them all specific instructions to be easy and not do anything stupid while he was in the town, but of course they didn’t listen. In his mind he could see the three knuckleheads sitting in a holding cell somewhere, pointing the finger at each other trying to figure out who was to blame for the latest mess they’d gotten themselves into. Regardless of who was at fault Animal would do what he could to get them out, but he had every intention of giving them hell before he did.

“You still there?” the female voice came back.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“What is it, big homey?” Brasco’s voice came over the line.

“Y’all niggaz got the hardest heads in the world. What the fuck did I tell y’all when I dropped you off?”

“Big homey, before you even go there let me run down to you what happened. Five minutes after you skirted Black and Brown rolled up on some bullshit,” Brasco told him. By Black and Brown Animal knew he was talking about the notorious detectives Alvarez and Brown. They had a hard-on for Animal that he couldn’t understand and had been subtle pains in his ass since he’d left New York.

“What the fuck they want?” Animal asked.

“Dudes was pressing us about some animals that escaped from the zoo. Of course we told them that we didn’t know what they were talking about, but they locked us up anyway.”

Animal shook his head. “Some dudes are just poor ass losers. I know you and Nef are probably down at the Tombs or on your way, but where did they put the lil one?”

Brasco laughed. “Me and Nef are the only ones twisted, the lil homey grew wings when they rolled.”

“A’ight, don’t sweat it, as soon as y’all go before the judge I’ll have somebody waiting with the bail money.”

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary, my nigga. They ain’t got shit on us but a little bit of weed, so we’ll probably be out tonight or tomorrow.”

“We hope!” Nefertiti shouted in the background.

“Nef shut the fuck up and go ask the C.O. if we’re gonna see the judge tonight or not,” Brasco barked. “My fault.” He turned his attention back to the phone. “All the extra theatrics are because we wouldn’t help their pussy asses. I just wanted to give you the heads-up about these cocksuckers pounding the turf.”

“Good looking out. Is there anything I can do for y’all while you’re in there?” Animal asked.

“Yeah, if we don’t make it to the party put a
gum
in something for ya nigga!” Brasco cracked up laughing.

“What? Nigga, what the fuck you mean put a
gum
in it?” the female voice came back. “I’m burning up my phone bill making three-way
calls for your ass and you got the nerve to be on there talking greasy? See that’s why I hate your scandalous ass, Brasco—”

Animal hung up and left Brasco and his lady to it. It was disturbing to know that his cronies were locked in, but more disturbing was the fact that Brown and Alvarez were on his heels again so soon. He’d known that they were pissed about not being able to connect him to the massacre that had claimed the life of his lover China White and led to Tech’s execution, but he didn’t give a shit because they didn’t have anything on him. Still he knew that the detectives were the best at what they did and hadn’t intended on drawing their ire just yet, but he couldn’t let Rock Head slide. With the snitch being out from under police protection Animal figured he could kill him and no one would particularly care, but he had been wrong. Rock Head’s murder occurring around the time that he came back to New York for the promotional tour was all the persistent detectives needed to reopen old wounds and continue their witch hunt to catch Animal dirty. He was more than confident in his ability at stealth, but he was hardly foolish enough to think that the detectives wouldn’t be a problem. Alvarez and Brown were very poor losers and would go above and beyond the law to try and jam him. But this would not deter Animal from his course of action, only detour him a bit.

“Everything cool?” Chip asked, noticing the worried expression on Animal’s face.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Animal lied. Before Chip could dig deeper the studio phone rang.

Chip answered it and listened intently to the caller on the other line. From the look on his face Animal knew it wasn’t good news. When Chip hung up he cut the music and hit the intercom. “It’s a wrap for right now, Soda. We’ll finish tomorrow.”

“What the fuck, man?” Soda whined.

“What’s good?” Animal asked.

“That was Devil. Don B.’s been shot.”

“Is he okay?” Animal asked.

“Yeah, but he ain’t happy. He wants us all to meet him at Harlem Hospital for an emergency staff meeting.”

Animal put his shirt back on and grabbed his gun. First the detectives were asking about him and now Don B. had gotten shot. It seemed like lately he and New York were a recipe for drama. But drama or not, he had come too far to let anyone or anything stray him from the path he had set for himself.

“Looks like we got our work cut out for us, big homey,” Animal said to the air before following Chip and Soda from the studio.

The sounds of Tweet’s “Southern Hummingbird” played softly on the portable CD player, while Malika sat on her tattered living-room couch staring out the window at the twinkling lights of the projects. She was going to bust out the Wii fit and do some yoga, but she was too drained so she decided to sip some tea and sort through the old mail she’d found in the kitchen drawer.

“Bills, bills, bills,” Malika muttered as she tossed the envelopes into the trash can one by one. Halfway through the pile she came across an envelope addressed to her from the State of New York. It was a letter from the Welfare notifying her that she had to come in for recertification or risk her benefits being cut off. The deadline for her to come in had been two days prior, which explained why her EBT card no longer worked. She knew that she hadn’t gotten the letter out of the box, which meant it had to be Solomon’s handiwork. Just thinking about all the drama she would have to go through to recertify sent her pressure through the roof, and she was about to give Solomon’s little ass hell.

Solomon almost jumped out of his skin when Malika stormed into his room unannounced. He was lying across the bed with his
hand in his pants and watching something on his laptop that he didn’t want his mother to see.

“Don’t you know how to knock?” Solomon asked, flipping the screen closed.

“I pay the bills in here so I don’t have to knock. Solomon, when did this letter come?” She tossed the envelope on the bed.

“I don’t know,” Solomon said and cut on his Xbox.

“What the hell do you mean, you don’t know? You got it out of the box didn’t you?”

“I guess.” He shrugged and went about the task of loading Madden X. Malika stepped between Solomon and the television, blocking his view. “What’s your problem, Ma?”

“My problem is that your irresponsible ass got our food stamps cut off because you didn’t give me this letter. Now I gotta go uptown and sort all this shit out tomorrow.”

Solomon looked at her quizzically. “So what’s the big deal? You should be a pro at this by now.”

Malika reached down and ripped the wires of the Xbox from the television.

Solomon bolted upright. “Chill before you break my game!”

“You don’t own shit because you don’t buy shit in here, Solomon. Your attitude has been really twisted lately and I don’t like it.”

“I ain’t got no attitude, Ma. You the one acting like a crazy woman in front of my friends.” Solomon folded his arms.

“Who, that degenerate ass Scar? Boy, you can’t be serious. And you know damn well that the reason I
went in
is because I told you not to be posted up in front of the building with Scar and them.”

“I wasn’t chilling with Scar. I was with Jay.”

Malika laughed. “As if his ass is still
innocent
little Jay. I don’t know why you and Jay can’t just hang out here and play video games like you used to instead of getting caught up in these projects.”

“Ma, you can only play video games for so long. Nobody wants to be stuck in the house all day long. You don’t let me go outside the
hood, and when I go in front of the building to get some air you scream on me. I can’t win for losing.”

Malika took a deep breath and sat on the edge of the bed. “Solomon, why can’t you understand that I’m trying to keep you out of harm’s way? Every time you turn around somebody is either getting locked up or killed messing around in the streets, it seems like you can’t turn on the news these days without seeing a grieving parent. A mother’s worst fear is losing their child to this bullshit and I’m trying to spare you that.”

Solomon sat up and folded his arms. “Come on, Ma, I know what time it is on the streets, that’s why I don’t mess around with the stuff Scar and those guys are into. Just because you may see me with them doesn’t mean that I’m out there doing what they do.”

“That may be, Solomon, but the police aren’t gonna care if they swoop down on you. It won’t matter if they’re Scar’s, Jay’s, or your drugs, the police will divide them among the three of you and take all of your asses in.”

“Not me. If the police roll on the spot I’m getting up outta there,” Solomon said as if he had it all figured out.

“Boy, are you out of your damned mind? Don’t even run from the police, all that will do is give them a reason to shoot you.”

Solomon waved her off. “Ma, you don’t know what’s up out there.”

“Little boy, I’ve probably forgotten more than you will ever learn. I became a mother when I was only a few years older than you are now when I found out that I was pregnant with you. During my pregnancy and after I have always been the rock that holds this family together, so you can’t tell me anything about knowing what’s up out there in the world, it’s you who hasn’t got a clue.”

“I’m good, Mommy. I can take care of myself.”

“Solomon, you can barely wipe your ass let alone survive out on your own. Stop being a smart ass and listen to what I’m telling you,” Malika said.

“Okay, Ma.” Solomon went back to his video game.

Malika stared at her son for a long time and said nothing. She could see that same determined look in his eyes that Suede had had whenever he was plotting and this is what scared her. Malika had bent over backward to make sure that her son was raised right, but for as good of a mother as she might’ve strived to be she was flawed because she was a woman and therefore it was impossible for her to really teach him how to be a man. It was times like those when she wished that she had had someone in her life to provide a positive example of manhood for Solomon, but she didn’t, so until the situation changed she would have to wear both hats.

Malika got up off the bed and headed for the door. “The leftovers from dinner are in the microwave. I’ve got my key so don’t go to the door.”

“Where are you going?” he asked, as if he paid bills in the house.

“Out,” she said over her shoulder before slamming his bedroom door.

Malika welcomed the cool air that ran across her face when she came out of the building. She loved the tranquility of her cozy little apartment but sometimes it felt like the walls were closing in on her, especially when she was having problems with Solomon, which seemed to be more and more frequent the older he got. Sometimes he stressed her so bad that she wanted to put her foot in his ass, but the guilt she carried for the fact that he was growing up fatherless stayed her anger.

Solomon, like most kids, didn’t ask to be born but God had saw fit to bring him into the world anyhow. As parents they had a moral obligation to the children but not everyone held up their end of the bargain, which was the case with Suede. When things got bad in the house she sometimes questioned her decision to have a child so young, but every time she looked at him the doubt evaporated. She
loved Solomon more than anything and would go above and beyond to protect him, which is what Scar and his little crew needed to get into their ignorant little heads.